2014/04/18 by P. Esposito, G. L. Israel, L. Sidoli +3
Earth and Planetary Sciences · Physics and Astronomy · #Accretion (finance) #Astronomy #Astrophysical Phenomena and Observations #Astrophysics #High-pressure geophysics and materials #Light curve #Line-of-sight #Neutron star #Nuclear physics #Physics #Pulsars and Gravitational Waves Research #Swift #X-ray #X-ray binary #astro-ph.HE
paper · pdf · doi:10.1093/mnras/stu659
published as MNRAS, 441, 1126-1133 (2014) · MNRAS, in press; 8 pages, 5 figures, 3 tables. This version: minor changes to match the MNRAS version
arxiv created 2014/04/18 · openalex publication_date 2014/05/03 · arxiv updated 2014/06/06 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/05
The source IGR J17200−3116 was discovered in the hard X-ray band by INTEGRAL. A periodic X-ray modulation at ∼326 s was detected in its Swift light curves by our group (and subsequently confirmed by a Swift campaign). In this paper, we report on the analysis of all the Swift observations, which were collected between 2005 and 2011, and of an ∼20 ks XMM–Newton pointing that was carried out in 2013 September. During the years covered by the Swift and XMM–Newton observations, the 1–10 keV fluxes range from ∼1.5 to 4 × 10−11 erg cm−2 s−1. IGR J17200−3116 displays spectral variability as a function of the pulse phase and its light curves show at least one short (a few hundreds of seconds) dip, during which the flux dropped at 20–30 per cent of the average level. Overall, the timing and spectral characteristics of IGR J17200−3116 point to an accreting neutron star in a high-mass system but, while the pulse-phase spectral variability can be accounted for by assuming a variable local absorbing column density, the origin of the dip is unclear. We discuss different possible explanations for this feature, favouring a transition to an ineffective accretion regime, instead of an enhanced absorption along the line of sight.